The major goal of the proposed research is to provide information for those responsible for the care and nutrition of nursing home residents by empirically identifying factors which affect nursing home residents' consumption of foods. The objectives which will be pursued during the proposed project are to 1) to identify the proportion of variance in nursing home residents' food consumption that may be accounted for by the foods themselves; 2) to identify the poportion of variance in nursing home residents' food consumption that may be accounted for by the conditions of meal service, and finally; 3) to use this information to develop practical recommendations and sample menus for nursing homes administrators so that the residents in their care can be provided the dining conditions, feeding assistance, and food items which will assure the reliable and independent consumption of food which provides the Recommended Dietary Allowances of nutrients. During the first year we obtained reliable measures of the food consumption of the residents in one nursing home around the clock for 2 3-week menu cycles. Future research will include: 1) analyzing the data, the nutrient intake of each resident, and of the group as a whole; 2) to choose new food items which are high in the nutrients least consumed and evaluate their bulk and nutrient consumption by these residents; 3) to experimentally analyze those characteristics of foods which correlate with food consumption; 4) to experimentally investigate the effects of the meal service ecology and the staff interactions with residents; and 5) to evaluate the practical effects which menus, constructed from empirical data on food and nutrient consumption, can have on the nutrient consumption of nursing home residents.